There is No Tea in this Strange Brew

So I was listening to the Tuesday morning re-run of the O’Rielly Factor, which was being guest hosted by Laura Ingram, and she had on a couple ladies discussing the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters. One of her guests was a woman by the name of Erica Payne who essentially said that the Tea Party and the OWS crowd were much closer than they appear. The Tea Party’s anger at the bank bailouts fits well with the OWS’s anger at Wall Street. She went on to say that the two need to come together as they are really allies in their overall anger at corporate greed.

Then, while going through my morning routine of catching up on news and commentary from the blogosphere, I see that my friend Rutherford posted a comment saying essentially the same thing. So, it would seem the talking points have gone around and the left , in an effort to attach some legitimacy to this crowd, is looking to co-opt the Tea Party to do it.

It has really been amazing to watch this progression of liberal talking points with regards to both the Tea Party and the OWS movement. First we saw the Tea Party vilified with every nasty rhetorical comment possible, most notably racist. The we saw liberals come out and call the OWS movement the real “Tea Party”. Now, we’re seeing liberals come out and say that the Tea Party and the OWS are really just the same thing. Rutherford’s mea culpa on blasting the Tea Party right before attempting to tie the two together just goes to show how desperate the left is to find something that will genuinely connect with the American people.

So, let us put to bed this foolish notion that somehow, the Tea Party and the OWS movement are two peas from the same pod.

Ideas matter: The ideological differences between the two groups could not be more stark or divergent. The Tea Party is focused on a return to our Founding Documents and the premise espoused by the Fo0unding Fathers of a limited government. It isn’t calling for the abandonment of the system, rather, it is a call for the return to the original system.

OWS is not calling for a return to the founding documents nor are they interested in fixing the system. Their intent, as demonstrated repeatedly through their signs, their rhetoric and their associates is revolution for revolutions sake. The left has tried to defend the OWS movement from itself by claiming that they are being taken advantage of by outside groups. Unfortunately for the left, this has been proven false by none other than the OWS movement itself. Where the Tea Party shouted down external agitators trying to take over the movement, the OWS movement has embraced their “external” agitators. The Communist Party USA, community organizers like ACORN and the Unions have been involved in this from the beginning.

Conduct Unbecoming: The most that was seen from the Tea Party was a passionate debate with politicians who were not representing the people. The Tea Party took this to the street to demonstrate popular support for politicians to listen to their constituents. The Tea Party took advantage of Congressional Town Halls to confront these politicians and voice their displeasure. It has been documented, several times, the difference between a Tea Party event and a leftist event: cleanliness. More importantly, the Tea Party demonstrates a love of country and a true appreciation of the rights and freedoms that we have.

This is markedly NOT a position of the OWS movement. I don’t have to point out that leftists are pigs and leave a trail of debris behind them wherever they go. No, there a more fundamental issues at hand here that separate the OWS movement from the Tea Party:

Now, Rutherford and his compadres on the left will say that this is an unfair representation of the OWS movement. I completely disagree. I think this is a perfect representation of the OWS movement, and I think this for a very simple reason: you are whose company you keep.

No matter how hard you look, you are not going to find Tea Party members flying the Soviet flag. In fact, the only time you will see the Hammer & Sickle at a Tea Party event is when the Tea Party is demonstrating the similarities between the current Administration and its socialist policies. Likewise, you will not see the Communist Party USA at ANY Tea Party event.

Nor will you find folks wandering around in an East German military uniform.

And as for conduct, when was the last time that you saw Tea Party members getting a tutorial on how to pick police hand-cuffs? Even the Hitler posters at the Tea Party events were not Tea Party, they were from the leftist group Larouche.

Who Really Owns this Movement?: The left has worked very hard to call the Tea Party an artificial grass-roots movement, and I mean really hard.

From Michael Moore to Howard Dean to President Obama, there has been a consistent effort to call the Tea Party Astroturf. Well, the Tea Party has demonstrated, repeatedly and to the chagrin of many in the GOP, the authenticity of the Tea Party- November 2010 being the greatest example.
That authenticity is in serious question when it comes to the OWS movement.

Interestingly, but certainly not all that surprising, there has been exposures of folks being paid to protest in DC. We have the Unions throwing down tremendous amounts of cash, personnel and resources. Is the movement one that has simply been co-opted by others? Possible, but doubtful. To be co-opted, you would have to have issues with the occupiers of the occupiers. The problem is that the Occupiers don’t mind the communists, the anarchists or the union thugs. Why? Because they are one in the same. There is no conflict between these groups because there is no conflict in their ideas and goals.

Unlike the Tea Party, this is not about saving the nation- it’s about fundamentally transforming it into something else. We’ve heard this before:

To think that these groups are not tied together at the hip is naiveté to the core. Don’t believe me?

PETITION: I Stand with #OccupyWallStreet

Protestors are assembling in New York and around the country to let billionaires, big oil and big bankers know that we’re not going to let the richest 1% force draconian economic policies and massive cuts to crucial programs on Main Street Americans.

Out-of-touch Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor said he is “increasingly concerned by the growing mobs.” Mobs? That must be what Republicans refer to as the middle class, or maybe the millions of unemployed Americans across the country.

As Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters, “The message of the American people is that no longer will the recklessness of some on Wall Street cause massive joblessness on Main Street…”

Help us send a message straight to Eric Cantor, Speaker Boehner, and the rest of reckless Republican leadership in Congress:

This is an email from the DCCC’s executive director Robby Mook. The link at the bottom of the email goes to the DCCC website. The Dems are all in. They need this to be authentic, they need this to be real, they need this to motivate their base and show up in November 2012. Their efforts are Machiavelian, and they will stoop to any level to keep power.

So, the next time you’re considering who and what the OWS movement is, keep this little nugget tucked away in your mind.

Since I’ve written my own piece and don’t feel like regurgitating it here, I’ll point out just one inaccuracy in your article. The OWS crowd was assembled a full three weeks before any unions showed any interest in them. This was not a union created movement. As for communists and anarchists … it’s a free assembly of people in a public place. All sorts of folks are likely to turn up. I didn’t hear any Tea Party folks tell members of the crowd “ehhh maybe you should leave your gun at home ‘cos it doesn’t send the message we want to send.”

Sadly G, you’ve referenced my article but haven’t really given it any thought. You don’t want to find any virtue in the OWS protests and therefore you can’t.

You don’t want to find any virtue in the OWS protests and therefore you can’t.

When you can point out the virtues of your counter culture down their on Wall St., my ears are open. Living in filth, sitting around the unwashed masses, and defecating your own den aren’t virtuous, by the way, so don’t list those.

I think liberal mothers must have been fond of telling their children, “filthiness is next of kin to godlessness.” Maybe that’s why leftists find it so virtuous to stink of body funk.

Both the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street are fighting a class struggle.

No, they are not. The Tea Party is not about class warfare. It is about representative and accountable government. It has never been about class warfare or populism. This is what you on the left constantly fail to grasp.

The Tea Party’s attitude, best enunciated in the now famous rant by CNBC’s Rick Santelli, is that irresponsible Americans were looking for assistance at the hard-working middle class’s expense. OWS, on the other hand contends that it is inherently unfair that 1% of Americans control most of the country’s wealth while the remaining 99% struggle to keep their jobs and homes.

That’s all propaganda. The Tea Party contends that everyone in this nation needs to have accountability and responsibility. Should I show how many OWS posters and supporters call for redistribution of wealth? How about the calls for nationalizing the banks or confiscating the wealth of others so it can be handed out to those that the left deems worthy? How about the death threats?

Third, some of the signs carried at these rallies were outright offensive to anyone of even somewhat thick skin (a sign calling Obama a “lyin’ African”, another with Obama with a bone through his nose like a witch-doctor.)

You and your imaginary racism. We’ve been over this ground before and you constantly refuse to respond or reply, why is that? Too inconvienent? Last time:

Lying African was a birther poster that used the image of a lion as a lyrical metaphore to lying Obama and the believe that he was born in Kenya, which is in Africa. It wasn’t about race, it was about nationality.

As for the Witch doctor, that was about Obamacare. We as a society often compare unqualified quacks to witch doctors, and since Obama is an unqualified quack, the analogy fits. Again, it was about race, but your constant and persistent defense of Obama revolves around one singularity: all opposition is racists first.

We’ve shown you multiple videos of anti-Semitic behavior by the OWS crowds. You refuse to address those and run for the “it’s a poor sampling of the movement” meme. You cannot find a single instance of racism at the Tea Party events, yet we can demonstrate, repeatedly, racist commentary towards black Tea Party supporters as well as persistent racism within the OWS crowds. What the hell do you think they mean when they cry about a New World Zionist order?

Those who insist that the OWS movement is a front to reelect Barack Obama just don’t get it. They’re not happy with Obama either.

Yet they’re pulling for Obama and his agenda. You know it, and I know, so denying it is useless.

Second, there seemed to be precious few people of color at the Tea Party rallies.

Listen, I- unlike you- actually went through and compared the two groups. Your post is essentially, ‘all that shit I said about the Tea Party, well nevermind because a real example of what I was bitching about before exists here, and we don’t need to talk about that now…’ You’re desperately looking for legitimacy. You did the exact same thing at BiW’s place. You ignored the post and just started spouting off at the mouth. Same here, you just don’t want to address the constructive criticism, because you know this isn’t a legitimate movement.